Camping Trip 2010: Lake Waramaug

I love that when I tell people now that I've returned from my camping trip, all my friends seem to remember we do this annually. This was year 5, I think. 2006, the year I was pregnant, was our first trip. And as always, it was me, ND and Emarcy.

Our routine has developed so that every other year we go to our favorite site North-South Lake. I've written about it elsewhere on my blog if you search under "camping." Whenever we go there I feel so happy, so eager to be relaxed and at peace. The truth is, sometimes almost too much, I suppose. There's a lot at stake in these trips for me, my last serenity experiment before I'm back into a new school year that could turn into almost anything. Our first camping trip was after an especially hard year, and I was nervous about what was coming. Now I'm getting more into a routine, both with the school years and with the trips, but it's still scary, this last brink between the summer I wished for for so long, and the busy balancing act that characterizes the bulk of my time every year.

As noted above, every other year we go to North-South Lake, but on the off-years, we try new places. This was our second shot in Connecticut. The first was a bit disappointing. There were far too many people and the beach was really busy and more like a day beach than a secluded campground. This year we went further inland to Lake Waramaug. It too was more populated than I wished and felt less like we were deep in the woods. The enormous lake had houses all around it. We chose the place after I did a search to find out where we could rent canoes. What we didn't know is that they won't allow children under 4 (ie. ND) to ride in one. So our hope to rent a canoe for the whole day and get away from the site a little failed.

I grumbled quite a bit, but once we got past those two issues, ND had a fabulous time and I enjoyed helping her have it. She has been experimenting more and more with water lately, though still quite nervous with it. We played on the beach, both in the water and sand(/dirt) as much as we could. We also just enjoyed things like learning how to set up a tent and how to make food, jumping off of rocks that lined the paths in the campground etc.

We also did something we normally avoid which is to drive around the area a little. We had to the first night just to get phone reception and found a gorgeous view.

We also tried going to a hiking trail, but it was so hot and we were tired, so we just went a little ways.

At night we played music together... Emarcy played her sanshin, I played my flute and ND tried to drum a little but then needed a break.

She, I mean, her doll, was a little afraid of the dark, but we sang together in the night to help with that too.

This was a good trip. I find that the more regular it becomes, the more I have ND to provide a lens, the less I need from it.

Less grasping for goodness. Looking forward to keeping this up.